Messian
Overview Messian is an a priori language which typologically can be identified as having an ergative-absolutive alignment, OSV word order, head-final syntax and an agglutinating morphology. There are minor phonological variations present within three main dialects including the standardised form (here the standard language is not always explicitly labelled, though the changes present within Dialect A and B always are). Messian exists in no conworld or universe and is rather simply an artlang produced in an attempt to achieve a certain aesthetic. The native term for Messian is 'Þév Ismís' ɪsmi:s, meaning "the language". Phonology Consonants Vowels Vowel length is phonemic is Messian, though gemination of consonants is not. Diphthongs ? ? Allophony Phones above within parentheses are allophones.The rules governing their mutations are as follows: Consonants Vowels Vowel Harmonzation Only some affixes make use of vowel harmonization. Orthography | class="xl75" style="width:62pt" width="83"| | class="xl75" style="width:62pt" width="83"| | class="xl76" style="width:48pt" width="64"| |} Grammar In Messian there are thirteen cases, five classes, five numbers, five verb moods, seven tenses, three aspects and two voices. Modality is indicated morphologically and vowel harmonization is utilized morphologically in order to carry meaning. There is variously prefixing, infixing and suffixing throughout. Articles The definite/indefinite article is a foundational unit of speech within Messian. They are declined for case, class and number. Though it does function as both the definite and indefinite article, only the noun that it precedes can decline for definiteness and it will only do so when it is preceded by an article. Case - Stem Number - first suffix Class - second suffix Determiners General determiners function much the same way as the aforementioned articles, though the noun that they modify will not decline for definiteness. Case - First suffix Number - Second suffix Class - Third Suffix Nouns Morphologically, nound declinations are quite complex. In older forms of the language, the verb in a sentence would inflect for mood and the noun performing the action (whether ergative or absolutive) would take a different affix depending on the mood of that verb. In the "contemporary" form of the language however, the verb no longer inflects for mood and only the noun does. Note: Mass nouns (water/the water, fog/the fog) take the indefinite plural. Ergative/Subjective absolutive prefixes: Objective case prefixes: In the older forms of Messian the definite/indefinite article inflected for as many cases as would the noun. As the number of cases increased however, most were indicated singly on the article and not the noun. Therefore, if a noun can be inflected for either the Absolutive (when the object of a transitive verb), Dative, Locative (a noun precded by an article declined for the Internal Locative or External Locative cases will inflect for the Locative) or Genitive cases, or if it takes a mood prefix, it generally will not need to be preceded by an article lest more precise number information is required. Definiteness - Second Prefix Number Number is indicated by either modifying the length of the stem vowel(s) of a noun or by 'doubling' the stem vowel in various ways. For example, the root θli:m þlím, meaning 'moon' can be inflected for the ergative indicative plural as follows: sí-þli-í-m, síþliím. As we see, the long root vowel in the plural is shortened and then succeded by an infix which is a doubling of the root vowel which has retained its length. In the dual number, the word would be rendered as sí-þlim, síþlim, with the long vowel having been shortened without being accompanied by any infix. It will be the first vowel in the root which will be modified/doubled in this way, unless otherwise stated, such as when a root with more than one root vowel is declined for the infinite (see above). Adjectives An adjective which precedes the noun that it modifies is in the predicate position, whereas when an adjective succeeds a noun, it is in the attributive position. Case - First Suffix Mood - Second Suffix Degree - Third Suffix '' A noun modified by an adjective declined for degree when preceding a noun declined for the Partitive case will indicate that it is 'more X/Y' than the second noun when marked for the comparative and more excessive/more sufficient/more deficient when marked for those degrees. ''Tense - Prefix Adjectives can be inflected to demonstrate the time at which the modified noun took whichever state is being described. Lengthening the vowel will serve to emphasize this. Verbs Tense - Prefix The second suffix will be a vowel, the quality of which will be determined by the quality of the stem vowel. The rules governing vowel harmonization are outlined above under phonology. Potentiality - Second Prefix The second prefix, that which indicates voice, will be doubled like the stem vowel of a noun in the plural in order to communicate potentialiy. When potentially is combined with a first prefix indicating negation, impotentiality will be communicated. |} Person/Number - Suffix The Netural/Affectionate registers are not equivalent to the tu/vous, du/sie formal/familiar distinction that is present within modern European languages. It is rather a means of expressing earnest affection/admiration/amazement, used generally for emphatic professions as various as "I love you" and "You did really well today", the register will however only be used for those phrases and will not be used throughout any conversation in which those phrases might be present. Aspect - Second Suffix Modality - Stem vowel modification A verb which is inflected for modality will see its stem vowel modified in the same way that a noun in the pl. would (see above). The verb that it modifies will conjugate for the same tense, person, voice and aspect as the verb displaying modality and will either immediately succeed it or be separated from it by an adverbial phrase. eg. un = run, li:sui want (roots). q-e-l-i-i:sui-a (present-active-root-modality-root-first person singular-) q-u-un-a (present-active-root-first person singular-) qeliísuia quuna = I want to run. qeliísuia cevuinit quuna = I really want to run. Adverbs Mood - Suffix Tense - Prefix Pronouns Pronouns, like the nouns they stand for, can be declined for mood. Messian is also a 'pro-drop' language, meaning that it is not strictly necessary to include a pronoun if the verb it is performing is marked for person (which it always will be), its inclusion in such environments will serve to emphasize the person performing the action, eg. 'he did it'. Person - Stem Case - First Suffix Mood - Second Suffix Postpositions Messianmakes use of postpositions which follow nouns and not prepositions which precede them. They can inflect for person, number and negation in which case they will not follow a noun but instead perform as a prepositonal pronoun. eg. hvāl-a-v, 'hvālav' = 'with me' or hvāl-ó-s, 'hvālós' = 'with you two' Many postpositions can be connected to the noun they modify by becoming an enclitic. When this occurs, the intital consonant(s) will be dropped. eg. neθ, neþ = under/underneath. 'fe̋d sísfeth neþ' meaning 'underneath the table', could be rendered as 'fe̋d sísfeth'eþ'. Such enclitics are generally reserved for spoken and more casual forms of the language, though they are not in themselves vulgar or unsuitable for polite conversation. Where locatives are not pertinent, nouns within a Prepositional Phrase will take the genitive. Person - First suffix Number - Second suffix Negation - Prefix Syntax Basic word order: *Main clause: Object-Subject-Verb. 'The man I saw' = 'I saw the man' *Subordinate clause: Subject-Object-Verb, with a subordinating conjugation following the subjective noun phrase. '...I although the man saw' = '...although, I saw the man" *Relative clause; Verb-Object-Subject. '...saw I' = '...who I saw' The only indication of a clause's being relative is the position of the verb, as it is only in relative clauses that the verb phrase takes the first position. Modifiers: *Adverbs will always follow the verbs that they modify. *Adjectives will precede the noun modified in the predicate position and will succeed it in the attributive position. The verb "to be" need not be used in conjunction with a predicate adjectival phrase.3 *Articles will always precede the noun that they accompany. Postpositions: *Messian makes use of postpositions which follow nouns and not prepositions which precede them. Lexicon ? Category:Languages